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Untethered full-size Vax

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Vax has introduced a battery-powered upright vacuum cleaner, the Vax Air Cordless, targeted at those who want the power of a full-size cordless cleaner without the inconvenience of having a trailing mains cable to plug in or even trip over.

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Weighing in at 4.2kg, it is largely grey in colour with royal blue details – mainly for switches and release catches. In addition to a removable dual-purpose cleaning wand and a soft cleaning brush it comes supplied with two Lithium ion battery packs and their charger. While one battery is on the VAC, the other can remain on the charger even when fully charged. Hence, there will always be fully charged battery ready and waiting so there should not be any problem achieving the claimed total runtime of 50 minutes which should be adequate for any domestic application.

The machine’s head swivels quite easily to enable it to be steered around furniture and other objects around the house. When moving from hard floors to carpets it is just a matter of pressing a push-button to turn on the power to the brushbar. In use, as one moves the machine to-and-fro, one can feel the brushbar working on the carpet.

The soft dusting brush and two-in-one tool are supplied for cleaning crevices, stairs, upholstery etc. The appropriate one is placed on the end of the handle/extension tube once it has been removed from the machine. This is then connected to the free end of the hose once it also has been detached from the bottom of the machine.

Emptying the dirt is straightforward. Just press the latch and the entire dust container assembly is released. Then, with the assembly held over a rubbish bin, press the release button to open the flap and allow the collected dust to fall out. Then, just close the flap and put the whole assembly back on the machine. In practice, the 1 litre dust container is adequate in size and will not need too frequent emptying.

Overall, it is an effective floor sweeper for both carpets and solid floors. Unfortunately, it falls down in other areas. The reach of the hose and handle/extension is too short. The combination will only reach to a height of 2 metres so it cannot be used to dust down draperies or around tall furniture or, in practice, reach up more than a few stairs.

In this context, there is a warning that, to avoid it falling, the cleaner should always be placed at the bottom of the stairs and that it should not be placed on either stairs or furniture.

Consequently, although the freedom of movement that it offers is a major advantage so that it can be used quite effectively as a general everyday cleaner that can be carried from room to room – or even floor to floor -- it will need to be supplemented by another cleaner that will be able to cope with stairs etc. However, notwithstanding my negative comments, I feel that despite having an RRP of £299.99 (but available on Amazon for £289.99) the VAC is ideal for those who need to make best use of their time while keeping the house clean.

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